


Upside down runaround

by ShatteredElement (orphan_account)



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Hero Worship, Heroes to Villains, Insanity, Tags May Change, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-01-13 14:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18471067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ShatteredElement
Summary: The Flash the fastest man alive, a hero to all. Well not here, in this world everything is turned upside down. Heroes are villains and villains are heroes. In almost every city there is a powerful villain and hero who fight day and night, only one cares about protecting the people while the other always tries and put whoever they can in danger. The heroes eventually made a group called The Protectors in hopes that their combined efforts would help stop the biggest of the villains attacks. On the other hand the villains made a team to make those large attacks called The Rulers, most of them only contacted each other when they needed a favor or if they badly needed help. The Rulers are led by the feared crime lord Batman with Superman as his right hand. The Protecters are led by the intelligent Lex Luthor as well as the Joker but most tend to follow Lex more. Though enough about that this is about the Flash and what this messed up world did to him.





	1. The Scarlet Speedster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of how flash became the man he is in this world. Along with the story of how he became a super villain.

In this world Barry Allen did see his mother die by his fathers hands no less. Her body had fallen lifeless after the fifth stab his father had made, but that didn’t stop him he just kept stabbing and lashing at her lifeless corpse until his shirt was stained red with blood. Barry had curled up in a corner waiting for him to stop, Berry covered his ears to block out the screams and horrifying noises that came from the seen. When his father finally stopped stabbing at Nora he looked at Berry, which made the poor boys eyes well up in tears thinking he was next on his father killing list. Instead his father tried to comfort him, by forcing him into a hug and stroking his blond hair which only covered it in blood and made Barry even more tariffed. “Stop struggling Bare, just calm down. It’s going to be ok.” We’re some of the few words Barry was told before the the police arrived to the seen and took his father away.

After that he was put into foster care, traveling from home to home in Central City. He never stayed in one family long, hell he stayed in juvenile detention for most of childhood. There was only one family he stayed in and that was because he had to or else he’d be homeless. The family was the West’s, he lived with them when he turned eighteen which is the age foster care kicks out it’s kids. It wasn’t a nice family, the father Joe abused his daughter Iris and Barry when ever he was set off. The only other family was Joe’s son who left years before Berry arrived, he had a wife, and a son named Wally. Berry rarely got to see any of them, but had quickly grown attached to Wally.

Barry had slowly become hardened to the world after his mother was murdered and didn’t truly care about what was right or wrong. His father had shattered the illusion of good and evil for him, so what was the point of caring. He started fights at school when he attended, and cussed out everyone he didn’t like to look at. He started pick pocketing when he started middle school and quickly became great at it, he slowly went onto shoplifting once he started high school, then grand theft once he was expelled. He made a name for himself in just a few short years of that, his name was the Scarlet thief. The name was because of his black and scarlet red clothes along with his obsession to steal anything red.  
One day he had gotten a job to steal a bit of intelligence for a gang boss, he usually stayed to only helping himself but he was in a pinch and needed the cash. He didn’t really care who he stole from as long as he got paid but something was off the night he went out to get the intel. It was storming, and it didn’t show any signs of stopping for a few days. It was great for cover so he didn’t think much of it at the time. He had snuck in the lab that the gang had for drugs because it was the best option dew to the rain. Unfortunately he didn’t expect the lightning to shock him as he lowered himself through the roof, making the chemicals crash on him as lightning surged through his body.

The next day the gang had found him and because of the foam coming out of his mouth and the dead expression he had, they dumped his body in a secluded spot. They didn’t care if anyone found him so they just dumped him in the forest. Not long after that off duty cop named Leonard Snart found him when he was going for his morning run despite the rain, he instantly got Barry to the hospital in hopes that he was still alive. After being told that Berry would likely recover Lenny started to show up the hospital everyday for nine months until Barry recovered. He did this because he was the one paying for his life support and he felt responsible for Barry.

The day Barry recovered Leonard was watching over him, venting to him really he had found venting to Barry was a good way to relax even if he did find out early on that Barry was a criminal. Even though he heard Barry start to wake up in the middle of his venting. He waited to see if he was only string in his sleep like he sometimes did, but a second later he heard Barry started to choke on the feeding tube down his throat. He quickly rushed to find a doctor and called for help, which came almost immediately. The doctors had to hold Barry down as they forced the tube out of his throat, once it was out Barry almost vomited but held back enough for a doctor to hand him a trash can.

To Barry’s displeasure the doctors wanted to keep him there for one more week to see if he was really doing alright. It was only when the doctors left Barry noticed Leonard was sitting in a chair giving him a genuine smile because he was actually awake, it gave Barry the creeps. “Who are you?” Barry asked hoping that the man would stop smiling. “Oh, right you don’t know me. I’m officer Leonard Snart, but you can call me Lenny.” Chills went up Barry’s spine as he heard that, great now he was going to jail. “So what are you doing here, officer?” “I found you when you went into your coma so I’ve been checking up on you daily, and you can relax I’m not going to bring you to jail hell you already served it two months ago.” Len’s smile seemed to brighten up even more. “I served my sentence in my sleep?” “Yep, you can thank me for asking the court to do that.” Barry gave him a confused look, no one ever did things for no reason. “What’s your angle? Why help me?” “Because you needed help, all I ask is don’t go back to being a criminal.” Barry looked him up and down, did he really expect that he would stop being a thief? “Um, thanks.” “No problem, now get some rest.” With that Len left.

A week later Barry was allowed to leave, Len had sent him off with a hug which made Barry want to punch him. Barry doesn’t like people touching him after what his father did and who could blame him. That week in the hospital felt like torture but that was over now, he was free once again. He had to find a job quickly, his reputation was already low dew to his absence. Thankfully the museum always had valuables that he could sell in other cities. All he had to do was sneak passed the guards and disable the secretary system, simple. It was so simple in fact that he didn’t even notice that he had done all that in the span of three seconds, but he did start to notice when his clothes started to catch on fire. Eventually he acquired the new title of the Scarlet speedster allowing other more powerful villains start to notice him. He even got called by the mob boss of Gotham, Bruce Wayne or as many liked to call him Batman. Batman had helped make him a new suit that didn’t catch on fire. Bats told him that if he needed anything he’d get it as long as he joined the small team that Batman had made, it was an easy deal to say yes to.


	2. The trickster and the reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lenny and his friend Mick or as many know them Captain Cold and Heatwave find Alex or the Trickster when they talk about the flash. Alex tells them about his new inventions that should help catch the speedster. Shortly after showing them the weapons Len finds Sam or mirror master.

With the Scarlet Speedster now running amok, the Central City Police Department was getting more and more swamped with work. They didn’t have any way of catching the Speedster, let alone keeping him in jail. For officer Snart the stress was to much so he had to find ways of escaping. He usually snuck off at lunch break to see his friend Mick Rory in his auto repair shop. They had been attached at the hip since they were kids, even if they did like to fight a lot. It was usually about stupid things but they wouldn’t stay mad at each other long.

Mick was fixing a cop car that had been damaged chasing after the Scarlet Speedster, when Lenny walked into Mick’s dirty old repair shop. “Any luck on the speedster yet?” Mick asks not even looking up from the hood of the car. “What do you think?” Lenny grumbles. “Sorry I asked, ya know in a way I’m thankful for all the business he’s been giving me.” “I’m not, I may be the commanding officer of CCPD but that doesn’t mean I like the paper work.” Mick closes the lid of the car allowing Lenny to see his face and auburn hair covered in greasy oil as he gives Lenny a sold smile. “It’s not the worst thing in the world at least he hasn’t killed anyone.” “Yet, he hasn’t killed anyone yet. I don’t care if he’s a thief, but most of my men are in the hospital because of him.” Mick’s smile fades. “Well then how you gonna catch him then?” “I... I don’t know yet, but I did hear that Lex Luthor was making things to catch these super freaks.”

Mick almost says something but another voice interrupts him. “Are you two talking about the Scarlet Speedster?” A young man with light blonde hair asks. “Ya, who are you?” Lenny asks suspiciously. “He’s Alex Walker my new hire.” Mick answers. “Ya, and you’re trying to catch the speedster, right?” “Yes, why?” Lenny watches Alex light up. “Well I’ve been thinking about how to catch him and an idea that came to mind was to freeze him in place.” Mick gives Alex a puzzled look. “How are you gonna freeze him to the ground?” “Easy, I made a prototype weapon that should do that.” Lenny and Mick exchange looks then look back at Alex. “Show me.” Lenny demands. Alex rubs his neck and his happy expression fades away. “It’s at my house, and I don’t think Mr. Rory will let me get off early...” “Nah, I’ll let you off if I get to see this thing too.” Mick states. “Oh, then come on!” Alex exclaims.

Alex races to his car, as Lenny and Mick follow not far behind. Mick jumps into the front seat of Alex’s car as Lenny cautiously gets in. It only takes a few minutes for them to arrive at Alex’s house. Which was little more then an old warehouse. “Follow me.” Alex exclaims as he exits the car and runs up to the building. Mick and Lenny exit the car as wall but before Mick can take another step Lenny stops him. “What wrong Lenny?” Mick asks. “Look, I know you hired this kid but something just doesn’t feel right. Like something’s gonna go wrong if we keep following him.” Lenny’s hand gravitates to his gun as he speaks. “Calm down, remember we both took marshal arts when we were kids and I don’t think just one kid could take us both on.” Mick reasons. “I... I guess you’re right, but be on guard.”

They resume following Alex who had finally managed to find his key. “Something wrong?” “Nah nothing, now you think you made something to catch the Scarlet Speedster?” Mick reminds Alex. “Again it’s just a prototype and I haven’t had time to test it, but it should work.” Alex offhandedly says as he leads them though a mess of shelves and scrapes of who knows what. They arrive at a work bench covered in tools and two weird looking guns with a small sticky note that read “flamethrower” and “cold gun” in messy handwriting. Alex picks up the cold gun and hands it to Lenny. “Why did you make a mini flamethrower?” Mick questions as he carefully picks it up. “Oh I was thinking that a more portable flamethrower would also help with catching the speedster.” “So are they just like a normal gun or what?” Lenny questions. “Pretty much, if you want to test it there’s a few targets out back.” Alex answers.

Lenny and Mick follow Alex to the back yard, and begin to aim the guns at the targets. Alex sits behind them to see if his inventions work. “Fire whenever.” Alex says impatiently. Mick looks the flamethrower over trying to understand it, before aiming it at the target in front of him. As soon as he pulls the trigger flames erupt from it, hitting the target that was about twenty feet away and engulfing it in flames. Mick releases the trigger and the flames disappear. “Awesome! Lenny you try.” Lenny gives Mick an awkward smile as he starts to aim at his target. When he pulls the trigger he gets blinded by the bright light that the gun made. He falls back a blinks a few times trying to be able to see what just happens, a slight burning sensation makes him look down at his hands only to find that they were covered in icy frost. 

Mick and Alex run up to him. “Len you alright?” Mick frantically asks. “What happened?” Alex’s questions. “I’m fine, just didn’t expect that. Alex you might want to work on the light show your gun makes.” Mick looks him over trying to see if he really is ok. “What the hell, how did your hands get covered in ice? It’s like ninety degrees!” Len gets up and grabs the cold gun. “This thing I guess?” Lenny looks at his target and sure enough it was incased in ice. Alex’s expression brightens a bit. “At least it works, though you might want to wash your hands in some warm water soon.” “Good idea.” Lenny walks back inside the warehouse and finds the bathroom rather quickly. Like the rest of the house it was a mess but at least it had running water. Lenny begins to vigorously rub off the frost covering his hands.

When he finishes washing his hands he looks up at the mirror only to find another person staring at him. He whips his head around but they weren’t behind him, looking back at the mirror the person seems to moved closer and closer until he see the mirror ripples like water and a hand comes out of it. Lenny backs up debating what to do, the hand continue to fall out of the mirror until the person he had seen in the mirror’s head came out. They crawl out of the mirror and onto the sink stretching when out of the mirror. Lenny just stares at them confused and really uncomfortable about what he had just seen. “Are you just going to stand there or are you going to tell me why you’re in my house?” The mirror person’s eyes narrow at Lenny as they wait for an answer. “Alex wanted me to test his cold gun.” Lenny blurts out only to have the man roll his eyes. “Great now the runts letting strangers in.” The man pinches the bridge of his nose. 

Lenny takes a small step towards the man. “How did you do that?” “Do what?” The man’s voice is full of annoyance. “How did you come through that mirror?” The man gives him a confused look. “I don’t know I just can...” The man jumps down from the sink now about eye level with Lenny. “So where’s Alex?” “Outside.” Without another word the man walks out of the room, heading to the backyard. Lenny follows him closely much to the annoyance of the man. It doesn’t take long to reach the backyard. “ALEX!” The man screams out. “What?” Alex turns away from Mick, who was back at shooting at the targets. “Who the hell are these guys?” The man growls out. “Well that ones my boss and that ones his friend, why?” “I want to know why you’re bringing strangers to my house.” His words sound venomous as he snarls at Alex. “Just calm down Sam, they wouldn’t do anything bad.” Sam’s eyes narrow at Alex. “Oh just like the stranger you brought here about a month ago who robbed you blind.” Alex’s mouth opens but quickly shuts. “Give the kid a break.” Mick growls. “Stay out of this!” Sam barks back. “Hey! Hey! Why don’t we all just calm down and sort this out like civil people.” Lenny tries to calm them as steps in between them. Sam glares at Len before turning to Mick. “Fine!” Both Mick and Sam snarl out as they glare at each other.


	3. Family reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scarlet or the Flash uses his powers to inflict some much needed justice in his opinion. Then he relies he doesn’t want to become like his father but he can still avenge his mother in many different ways.

Scarlet’s still getting familiar with his powers as he tries to move his hand through the glass plain that guards the museums new centerpiece. To his surprise it works now he can grab the pretty crown of jewels without setting off the alarm. “Heh, so Bats isn’t just stuck up he’s smart too.” He chuckles to himself. He carefully grabs the crown and moves it through the glass lifting it up. A small buzzing erupts from his wrist signaling for Scarlet to leave. He puts the crown in a bag full of the many other freshly stolen valuables and quickly races out of the building. Thankfully the museum had been closed today otherwise he wouldn’t try to rob it midday. 

He presses the button on his wrist to answer the incoming call. “Yo, what up?” A small icon of a bat appears on the screen. “I was just wondering why you’re robbing a museum in broad daylight?” “Chill out it was closed today and I remember you told me to break out the new suit.” Scarlet runs up a building tying to find a place to catch his breath. “That I did but I didn’t want you to only use it on easy jobs.” “Oh trust me I’m just warming up I got to visit Iron Heights next then I got my nephews birthday present to get.” The bat icon disappears and a map of Iron Heights appears. “If you’re going to Iron Heights in order to break someone out here’s something that should help.” “Oh I’m not breaking them out, I’m just getting a little justice.” Batman chuckles. “Do whatever you’re going to do Scarlet just don’t get caught.” “Thanks for worrying but I’ll be fine, anyway see ya later.” Berry quickly ends the call and races to Iron Heights.

Once on the small island Scarlet races around the prison, he can see his father sitting in the yard smoking a cigarette like everything was fine. “Perfect.” He’s been planning this for years all he needs to to do is kill his father. Before Scarlet can do what needs to be done he has to get rid of the guards. Scarlet starts grabbing the guards and tossing them all into a solitary cell making sure that they were gaged so the other guards wouldn’t take notice of the yard so quickly. The yard is clear of guards just a few cameras need to be off, it’s simple to turn them of just toss a few rocks at them. Now he can finally get to his father without trouble. He wants to saver this so he stops running when he reaches the yard. “HENRY ALLEN!” Scarlet yells loud enough for every prisoner to jump, then they all turn their heads. Scarlet can fell the electricity buzzing off him and the scared expressions of the prisoners only helps his ego. 

The groups of prisoners back out of the way so that Scarlet can get to Henry, who sits on a bench paying no attention to the crazy speedster. “Who are you and what’s you beef with me.” Scarlet pulls back the mask showing off his face. His blond hair is a mess, his pale skin littered with light freckles along with a few scars, and those icy blue eyes now covered in hate. “Hi dad!” A sarcastic smile stretches on his face, as he watches his father’s eyes grow wide. “Berry! Is it’s really you? It is isn’t it? My son my darling son has finally come to see me.” Henry tries to pull Berry into a hug only to be hit square in the face. “Henry, what makes you think that I’d ever let you touch me after what you did?” “What?” In a second Henry is thrown into a nearby wall. “You killed my mother right in front of me!” Everyone in the yard can hear the hatred and anger that coat Scarlet’s words. “You made sure that I couldn’t grow up with a mother or a father!” Scarlet delivers a few swift kicks to Henry before tossing him into the bleachers he was on moments ago. “You took away my childhood!” He drags Henry out of the bleachers and tosses him back on the ground. “You deserve much worse than prison, you deserve to be destroyed by one good thing in you life...” Tears of anger start to stream down Scarlets face as he leans over Henry. “But I can’t bring mom back so I’ll do it for her, I will end you.” A barrage of punches rain down on Henry.

Scarlet doesn’t stop until his hand begin to sting and his arms are sore. After a sigh he lifts Henry up so that their eye level with each other. Even looking at the bruises, scars, and blood cover Henry Scarlet thinks he might have over done it. He forces the small bits of compassion he has to the back of his mind as he points his arm so that it’s close to Henry’s heart. “Good riddance.” He begins to vibrate his arm so that it can stop the heart, but his arm won’t move. Scarlets teeth begin clenching as he tries to move his hand forward but he can’t. “Why is this so hard? You deserve this, you deserve to die, but why is it so hard?” Scarlets face falls, tears still stream from his eyes. “I-I can’t kill you... I can’t do it...” Scarlet lowers Henry as he tries to sort out his mind. “But prison is still too easy for a murderer like you...” Ideas flash through Scarlets head as he thinks of ways to torture his father. Scarlet grabs Henry’s shirt and races off heading back to Central City.

Scarlet living in an old abandoned house had its perks now, no one would be able to find his father let alone save him. Every exit is blocked off, the only safe way in was doing a few par-core moves up to a window or finding his secrets way in. When Scarlet first found it, nothing was in it so after a few years he added a few different things to make it feel like home. Scarlet thinks of places to keep his father eventually settling the basement. It didn’t have windows, the door was hard as hell to open without a lock, and many other things that would make it unbearable to anyone. He zooms down to the basement and slams his father into a wall and runs back out to raid a small store for bandages. Not a second later he returns home and raps up Henry. He doesn’t want to kill his father, no he wanted to make him suffer. He refuses to become his father besides killing him would be to nicer than what Scarlet was planning for him.

Scarlet patches up Henry’s wounds so he won’t bleed out but he won’t do much more than that. “Sorry I can’t stay for to long I got to get my cousin a little birthday gift. You won’t see me for a while but you might be happy about that.” With that he left not with his suit, not with running, just like a normal person looking for a kids birthday present. Sadly Scarlet knew that his kid cousin Wally wasn’t going to have a happy birthday party but this year he was going to save him from the horrible family he had that treats him like garbage.


End file.
